Livonian grammar

Livonian is a Finnic language, and, as such, is closely related to both Estonian and Finnish.

Tones

Livonian is a pitch accent language. It has a broken tone that can appear in words. The broken tone is marked with a '.[1]

lēḑ ‘sphere’ lē’ḑ ‘leaf’
nīņ ‘bark strip’ nī’ņ ‘wide belt’
mō ‘earth’ mō’ ‘down; earthwards’
ūdõ ‘to fry’ ū’dõ ‘to strain’
pūstõ ‘tree (elat. sg.)’ pū’stõ ‘to clean’

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Singular
First Person ("I") Second Person ("You") Third Person ("He" or "She")
Nominative minā/ma sinā/sa tämā/ta
Genitive min sin täm
Dative minnõn sinnõn tämmõn
Translative minkõks sinkõks tämkõks
Partitive mīnda sīnda tǟnda
Inessive mins/minšõ sins/sinšõ täms/tamšõ
Elative minst/minstõ sinst/sinstõ tämst/tämstõ
Illative minnõ sinnõ tämmõ
Plural
First Person ("We") Second Person ("You") Third Person ("They")
Nominative mēg tēg ne
Genitive mäd täd nänt
Dative mäddõn täddõn näntõn
Translative mätkõks tätkõks näntkõks
Partitive mēḑi tēḑi nēḑi
Inessive mēšši tēšši nēšši
Elative mēšti tēšti nēšti
Illative mēži tēži nēži

Note: the third person pronouns do not possess a gender in the singular or the plural.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Singular
("this, this one")		 Plural
("these, these ones")
Nominative sīe/se ne
Genitive sīe/se nänt
Dative sīen näntõn
Translative sīeks/sīekõks näntkõks
Partitive sīeda nēḑi
Inessive sīes/sīessõ nẽšši
Elative sīest/sīestõ nēšti
Illative sīezõ nēži

Note: The plural demonstrative pronoun is the same as the third person plural personal pronoun.

Reflexive Pronouns

Singular
("myself, yourself, oneself")		 Plural
("ourselves, yourself/ves, themselves")
Nominative iž iž
Genitive eņtš eņtš
Dative eņtšõn eņtšõn
Translative eņtšõks eņtšōdõks
Partitive eņtšta eņtšidi
Inessive eņtšõs eņtšis
Elative eņtšõst eņtšist
Illative eņtšõ(z) eņtšiz

Note: The usage of the reflexive pronoun is broad. Of course, it is used as a reflexive pronoun as in "minnõn eņtšõn um vajag...," meaning "I need..." [lit: to myself is necessary...]. However, the pronoun can also express possession; it frequently replaces the genitive forms of the personal pronouns. For example: "ma sīeda kūliz eņtš izast", or "I heard it from my father." Also, reflexive pronouns can be used in adverbial expressions: "täm eņtš ie", "this same night".

Cases

Look up Appendix:Livonian declension in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The following are the cases in Livonian:[1]

Case Singular Plural
Nominative -∅ -t
-d
-õd
Genitive -∅ -t
-d
-õd
Partitive -tā
-dā
-ța
-ta
-da
-tõ
-dõ
-õ
-∅ 		-ți
-ḑi
-ti
-di
-i
Dative -n
-õn 		-ddõn
-dõn
-tõn
-õdõn
Instrumental -kõks
-ks
-õks 		-dkõks
-tkõks
-dõks
-tõks
Translative -ks
Illative -zõ
-(õ)z 		-ži
-īž
-iž
-ž
-īz
-iz
Inessive -š(õ)
-s(õ)
-õs(õ) 		-ši
-īs
-is
Elative -št(õ)
-st(õ)
-õst(õ) 		-šti
-īst
-ist
Instructive -īņ
-iņ
Allative -l(õ)
-õl 		-il
-iļ[2]
Adessive -l(õ)
-õl 		-il
-iļ[2]
Ablative -ld(õ(st))
-õld 		-iļd[2]
Abessive -tõ
Lative -j
-jõ
Essive -nõ
-n
Exessive -ndõ(st)

Examples

līvli "Livonian"
Singular Plural
Nominative līvli - līvlizt -t
Genitive līvliz - līvlizt -t
Partitive līvliztõ -tõ līvliži -i
Dative līvlizõn -õn līvliztõn -tõn
Instrumental līvlizõks -õks līvliztõks -tõks
Illative līvlizõ -õ līvližiz -iz
Inessive līvlizõs -õs līvližis -is
Elative līvlizõst -õst līvližist -ist
ve’ž "water"
Singular Plural
Nominative ve’ž - viedūd -d
Genitive vie’d - viedūd -d
Partitive vietā -tā vežži -i
Dative vie’ddõn -õn viedūdõn -dõn
Instrumental vie’dkõks -kõks viedūdõks -dõks
Illative vie’ddõ -õ vežīz -īz
Inessive vie’dsõ -sõ vežīs -īs
Elative vie’dstõ -stõ vežīst -īst

Moods

The following are the moods in Livonian:[1]

Mood and Tense Person Singular Plural
Indicative (present tense) 1 -b -õb — -mõ -m -õm
2 -d -õd -tõ -t -õt
3 -b -õb — -bõd -õbõd -āt(õ)
Indicative (past tense) 1 -, (comma indicates palatalization of final consonant) -i -īz -iz -ž -kš -,mõ -imõ -īzmõ -izmõ -žmõ -kšmõ
2 -,d -id -īzt -izt -žt -št -,t(õ) -it(õ) -īzt(õ) -izt(õ) -žt(õ) -kšt(õ)
3 -, -id -īz -iz -ž -kš -,t(õ) -it(õ) -īzt(õ) -izt(õ) -žt(õ) -kšt(õ)
Conditional 1 -ks -õks -kstõ -õkstõ
2 -kst -õkst -kstõ -õkstõ
-ks -õks -kstõ -õkstõ
Imperative 1 -gõm -õgõm -kkõm -kõm
2 – -gīd -gid -õgid -kkõd -kõd
Quotative 1–3 -i -ji -iji -id -jid -ijid
Jussive 1–3 -gõ -g |-õg -kkõ -kõ -gõd -õgõd -kkõd -kõd

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sketch of Livonian Sounds and Grammar". Virtual Livonia.
  2. ^ a b c Blokland, Rogier; Inaba, Nobufumi (2018). "The l-cases in Courland Livonian". Eesti ja Soome-Ugri Keeleteaduse Ajakiri. 9 (2): 147–164. doi:10.12697/jeful.2018.9.2.07.

Bibliography

  • Sivers, Fanny de (2000). Parlons live : une langue de la Baltique (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7475-1337-8.


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